Becoming a Man
by EnyoAzul
Summary: A HanataroXYachiru relationship set 35-40 years after Hueco Mundo arc.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Wish i did. I want a Hanataro Plushy. Don't Sue. Thanks.

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It started simply enough. Hanataro had been completing his task of scouting the forest for camping Rukongai stragglers so that Shinigami Academy students could later practice their skills in being an authoritarian when it happened. It was a cry of astonishment that caught his attention but it was the sound of the girl he ached for that caused his legs to lunge into action.

Most of it was instinct and habit; habits learned in battle. He dogged each tree and each branch with agility and speed he wouldn't have comprehended a few decades ago. (Though oddly enough he was still as clumsy as ever when it came to walking down the clinic's corridors.) He could sense a hollow; it was not an Arrancar and he breathed a bit easier for it. Coming to a clearing in the forest he saw a young woman with waist long pink hair sprawled face-down on the ground. "Y-yachiru!" Seeing her sword on the ground beside her he collected it and stormed after the hollow.

It must have caught her by surprise, he thought panting as he let her sword clatter to the floor. The hollow was an easy kill even for him who knew very little about the ways of the sword. He turned from the spot where the vanquished hollow had once been and to the woman he had heard earlier. She was making a strange noise as she lay on the ground and he rushed to her shrugging the knapsack on his shoulder off in the process.

"Are you in pain?" he asked as he kneeled by her side, "where are you injured, are…are you laughing?"

The pink haired girl rolled over to expose a gleeful look upon her face. Still lying flat on the ground she brought her hand to her face and wiped away the mixture of spit, dirt, and blood on her chin before speaking. "You know I could have handled that, hikui-chan. He caught me by surprise that's true, but I've faced much worse than him!"

"hi-hikui?"

She giggled again her bright face brining a hesitant but truly genuine smile to Hanataro's. Seeing him smile Yachiru grinned wildly and sat up so that her knees were slightly raised and palms could support her upper body. "So Hikui-chan, is it because you wanted a reward that you saved this poor damsel in distress?" she raised an eyebrow suggestively. It was probably because she grew up around so many senseless savages that she learned to play up her sexuality though she'd kick anyone's ass who actually tried anything. It was amusing to see men turn to goop though it was not as good of a pastime as a spar worthy opponent.

"Ah, n-n-no."

"No? You don't want me to reward you?"

"Ah..i mean, it's not, I wasn't trying to be heroic or anything…."

She scoffed, "of course not. Forth divisioners aren't the type for heroics or battle or anything really,"

Hanataro looked hurt for a moment before raising his head. Over the last few years it was his division members who had lost the most in battle. He would not dishonor them by being ashamed; in his view they were the most heroic of the Gotei. "I could leave those wounds on your knees. It'd be pretty painful to get back to the eleventh in your condition."

"I've had worse," she glared a bit but her lips were still smiling, "and you couldn't do it. You. A forth divisioner. You could never leave someone, even a brute like me from the eleventh, in pain. It's driving you crazy watching the blood trickle from my knee down my calf, isn't it? I wonder," she began to whisper, "is it the medic in you or the _man_ in you that can't take your eyes off my long- feminine- legs."

Hanataro's lips quivered a bit before he raised his head once more, "It's the medic." At once he began performing a worldless kido. Yachiru watched him with fascination; her mouth shut for once. The way his hands moved, his concentration, the furrow in his brow, the slight upturn that his lip made, the stray strand of hair brushing against his check, all this made up the man the soldier medic that was Yamada Hanataro.

Despite what Kenpachi thought the forth division did engage in battle. Their battle maybe even harder to fight than those against vasto lorde the forth division fought against enemies unseen: viruses, a patient's will, time. At least, that's what Yumichika had attempted to explain to their captain many years ago.

"…_they fight against time itself! What's a more respectable opponent than time? Every day they struggle to…"_

"_You wanna go join them, ya fruit fly?" Kenpachi snapped, "I know you know Kido, I've smelled it on Yachiru for years. I ain't stupid."_

"_Taicho!" Yumichika eye's widened and he turned to Ikkaku, who was sitting on a chair shoulders slumped and face worried, for help._

"_I ain't kickin' ya out for that," Kenpachi sighed._

"_For something else then?"_

"_No, I ain't kickin' ya out for anything right now but if I ever hear that you're helping this brat see that _boy_ again..."_

"_He's a medic!" Yachiru snapped, for the first time in her life raising her voice to her father figure, "it's not my fault if he just _happens_ to be the one that treats my injuries!" _

"_You will not see that lousy good for nothing again! And you," he pointed sharply at Yumichika, "will heal all her injuries. If you can't, figure it out! If you still can't, I'll take her personally to Unohana or that fukutaicho of theirs. He ain't strong Yachiru, he's not worth your time." _

"You're not a brute, by the way," Hanataro said quietly as her wound began to finally stop bleeding, "at least you weren't when you used to come see me at the clinic."

"Psh, see _you_. It's not like I asked to be seen by you specifically."

"Isane-fukutaicho said so." Hanataro looked up and into Yachiru's eyes briefly before turning back to her knee, "I wasn't always readily available when you came in injured but Isane would find me no matter where I was saying that you demanded to be seen by me."

"Your memory is messed up. That was a long time ago."

"Yes, it was three decades ago next month."

"Y-you remember the month?" Yachiru gasped. She too remembered.

"I always looked forward to it. To seeing you. I know we didn't speak much but you became a friend to me and then suddenly you weren't around anymore. Ever, even when we had terrible battles, like…" he closed his eyes for a second, "When I heard you started actively engaging in battles I hoped…I wished…"

"Were you worried about me? Don't be stupid. I've been trained by the best. No one but Ken-chan can beat me and some day I'll beat him!" Yachiru grinned proudly.

"I never knew if you were alive or not," he spoke loudly enough for her to hear but only just, "I always feared that it would be the day I heard that Zaraki-taicho's fukutaicho was gone."

"Well- well I'm not! Don't doubt my abilities or I'll force you to spar with me!"

Hanataro smiled, "I apologize Yachiru-fukutaicho."

"Looks like I'm healed." She said looking down at her knee which still was basking in the glow of a kido spell but completely wound free.

"Oh! Yes." He said pulling away from her and standing up quickly.

"Don't look so sad about it!" She said jumping to her feet.

"Sorry," he blushed, "I-I should be getting back to my duties."

"Yeah and I should go find Yumi-kun, he'll have to write up a report about this."

"Why would he….n-nevermind….Goodbye Yachiru fukutaicho. I hope I can see you again soon."

"You don't have to be so formal," she said tossing her hair to the side, "That's not how we do it in the eleventh."

"Then, I hope I see you later, Yachiru-chan." He smiled.

She smirked, "okay, Hikui-chan."

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A/N: IDK if I will go on with this. I want to and have ideas so there may be updates. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Same as first chapter.

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"But really, would just one hurt? Just one…and on the house?" Long dark lashes fluttered slowly enough so that it didn't look purposeful but enough to wilt any man's heart.

"Ch-ch-ahh- yeah okay Ayasegawa-sama," a short and rather untidy looking twelfth division member said as he hobbled away and into the back room of an oddly ordinary looking pub which sold the most outlandish of concoctions- if you knew how to order them, that is.

Yachiru stifled her giggle as her subordinate and brother figure threw her a superior smirk of satisfaction. "2minutes and 45 seconds," he said quietly to which Yachiru did giggle.

"You are the master," she said.

"Yes, and just think what it would have been like if I had tits!"

Yachiru snorted into her too-long sleeve. This was the way life out to be: doing questionable things with the properly exuberant Yumichika in the morning, completing duties or attending a fukutaicho meeting in the mid-morning, harassing Byakushi-kun in the mid day, brawling with the ever willing Ikkaku in the late afternoon, chomping down on large quantities of food and sake with Ken-Chan as evening approached, and spending the rest of the time lazing about. It had been two weeks of peacefulness and Yachiru treasured it whole heartedly; it was as if things were back to normal and would stay that way.

"Ah, here you are," the short bartender hobbling back whispered; he handed over a decently sized purple goop-filled vile with a shaking hand.

"Thank you dear sir, and may the rest of your day be filled with happiness." Yumichika said gracefully whilst tucking the vile into his yukata.

As they left the establishment Yachiru looked upon the faces of Kira-fukutaicho and Hisagi-taicho neither rule-enforcing shinigami knew that the very building that they were drinking mild sake in sold illegal and highly potent brews invented by Kurotsuchi Mayuri before his passing; the thought was highly amusing.

"Now what Yumi-kun?"

"Well I suppose I'd better wake up Ikkaku. He has Karakura patrol duties today. It's only 16 hours though."

"That's a short shift? What happened?"

"Some no-seat wanted to attend his sister's graduation from the academy."

"Oh. Then after you wake up Baldy what ya going to do?"

"I, dear girl, have duties to attend to. What are _you_ going to do?"

She shrugged, "Maybe visit Byakushi?"

"I'm sure he'd like that very much. What's wrong fukutaicho?" He asked noticing something off about his vice-captain.

"What do you mean?" she said.

"You seem…different…off somehow. You have all day. Is there something you want to talk about?" Maybe, she thought but she shook her head no. "I'll get it out of you eventually," Yumichika said.

She tossed her hair as she turned to walk in the direction of the 6th division, "Hmph! You can try! Oh and bite baldy on the ear for me!"

"Love you too!" Yumichika shouted as he walked the opposite way toward the eleventh division barracks.

She shook her head Yumichika had taken to saying that lately and even if it was said without much emotion behind it or shouted goofily as it was today it was still a little strange to hear. No doubt the war had affected people in ways they weren't aware of but to hear a man who had always been pleasantly flamboyant yet just the tiniest bit cold openly express his love was a bit unnerving. She sighed; she supposed it was normal, his way of dealing with the near loss of their little family though Yachiru always wondered if death would be so bad if the people closest to her were dying as well? What would be the point of going on after that other than to preserve their memory? Or seek revenge?

The sixth division was as tidy as ever. Of course with the break in the war it was expected for some normalcy but the sixth had never fallen to the wayside as the other divisions had. It had been a comfort to run through the empty halls during the height of the war. Feeling desperately alone and even afraid after being left behind it had been the only thing to leave her with a sense of security: barging into the empty division to smell the cleanliness and see the orderliness that prevailed during the worst of times.

"Hi," she smirked at the blonde 7th seat who happened to pass by. The little tramp had been jealous of her for the longest of time and Yachiru didn't know why. She was attractive but as far a she knew she wasn't competing with the little bitch for any man's affection. She didn't care for that sort of thing at the moment. Well, that wasn't completely true but she couldn't vie for _that_ man's affection. She smiled. She was certain that a man as handsome and sweet as Hanataro had plenty of suitors. She wasn't even positive that he was single. She was wasting thoughts on a man she should not have.

She didn't knock. She didn't really have to and it was always nice to see the annoyed yet startled face of Byakuya Kuchiki in the morning. "Good-morning Renji-kun! Morning BYA-kuuu-shii!" She said as she entered.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Renji snickering a little behind his stack of paperwork. "Kusajishi-fukutaicho," Byakuya said without batting an eyelash or looking up from his own stack of papers. He must have been expecting her.

"How's it?"

"Is there something that you need, Kusajishi-fukutaicho?"

She blinked. How blunt! "N-no, Kuchiki-taicho," she admitted.

"Is this a social visit then? I can schedule you for a lunch if you…"

"How's it Renji-kun," Yachiru said ignoring the nobleman for a minute.

"Back to normal," he smiled though it wasn't as bright a smile as it used to be, "Taicho is undertaking Unohana's work while she recovers."

"Oh." She said. She had forgotten that she had been injured and ill. "So I guess you're doing most of the 6th's work?"

"Not really he doesn't trust me,"

"Even now? I mean, how long have you been working together…"

"Apparently," Byakuya interrupted, "competency in battle does not result in proficiency in the office."

Yachiru and Renji simultaneously gasped. "Taicho!"

"He-he complemented you!" Renji was blushing as deep red as his hair.

Byakuya, who hadn't seemed to notice the commotion said, "Abarai, take these papers to the forth division. Isane has taken on Unohana Taicho's responsibilities but is currently in the real world and many of the other high ranks are also busy therefore you will hand these to Yamada Hanataro who has been checking over and filing the paperwork. I understand you've just started but I'd like you to go now as…"

"I'll do it!" Yachiru said without thinking.

"Fukutaicho!" Renji gasped then again when he turned to his captain who had gone rigid and wide eyed, "Kuchiki-taicho!"

"Byakuya blinked and cleared his throat, "A-are you sure?"

"Y-yes," Yachiru said, slightly out of breath. She knew she was blushing. She wasn't quite sure where this was coming from. Yes, she did want to see Hanataro again but upon hearing his name it was all she could think about doing. This did not bode well. She had been forbidden to see him and though that was a long time ago and she had no problem disobeying direct orders even if they did come from Ken-chan it seemed that this particular one was something she should be better off submitting to, "I'm sure."

"Very well." He handed her the papers.

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AN: Obviously there will be another chapter with some actual YachiruXHana interaction. IDK when it will be posted though. Maybe this week but no promises. Review, please and thank you!


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